Drying rack for pottery manufacture



Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

C. L. SEBRING.-

DRYING RACK FOR POTTERY MANUFACTURE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22.1920. RENEWED mu. |9.1922.

1,410,275. 2 Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

22am WW STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES L. SEEKING, OF SEBRING, OHIO.

DRYING RACK FOE POTTERY MANUFACTURE.

Specification of Letters Patent. 1 31 3 1 9 1 Man 21, 1922 Applicationfiled July 22, 1920, Serial No. 398,252. Renewed January 19, 1922.Serial No. 530,493.

To all to from it may concern Be known that I, Crmnnns L. SEEKING, acitizen of the United States, residing at Sebring, in the county ofMahoning and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Drying Rackfor Pottery Manufacture, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to drying racks for pottery manufacture and moreparticularly to a rack upon which the green ware is moved through adrying chamber and around a series of steam pipes or similar heatingelements which are located within the drying chamber.

The objects of the invention are the pro vision of a drying rack forpottery manu tacture madoin the form or" an endless conveyor arranged tocarry the green ware through a drying chamber and around a series ofheating ipes or the like located in said chamber, the conveyor aftercarrying the green ware through the drying chamber passing back to adischarge point located near the filling point or the conveyor in orderthat the jigger operator and his assistant may form the were and placeit upon the conveyor at the filling point and at the same time easilyand readily remove the dried ware at the dlscharge point and form vprovision of means whereby the conveyor is moved upwardly past thejigger operator, the shelves upon the conveyor being empty as theyapproach the jiggcr operator who fills each shelf, as it is moved intoposition, with molds containing green ware, the filled shelves beingmoved upwardly. away from the jigger operator. Thus as the moldscontaining green ware are placed upon each shelf, any scraps or dirt,which might be dropped upon the shelves below, will not cause any damageas it will be deposited upon the empty shelves.

With these objects in view the invention consists in the novelconstruction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter described,illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed outin the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in theform, proportions, size and minor details of construction may be madewithin the scope of the appended claims, without departing irom thespirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the inthe sprocket chain,an intermediate portion.

of the shelving being broken away.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a portion of a modified form of dryingrack, parts being broken away for the purpose of illustration.

A practical embodiment of the invention isv disclosed in theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification in whichsimilar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe several.

' views. 1

The drying rack embodying the present invention is an improvement of myformer patent No. 1,29%,958 patented February 18, 1919. In said formerpatent the molds containing the green ware were placed upon an endlessconveyor by the jigger operator and carried by said conveyor throughadrying chamber, being removed at the opposite end of the device from thej igger operator by the finisher. It was then necessary for all of theempty molds to be carried from this point back to the other end oi? thedevice in order that the jigger operator might again use these molds. l

In the present invention the jigger operator and his machine are locatedatthe filling point of the endless conveyor and his assistant islocated. in proper position to keep him supplied with new molds, theendless conveyor passing back through the drying chamber to a pointadjacent to the batterout and the finisher for the purpose of allowingthe finisher. to easily and readily remove the molds containing thedried ware from the conveyor and after removing the dried ware from saidmolds the same molds are replaced upon the shelves of the conveyor wherethey may be removed by the batter-out who bats out a lump of clay andthen turns the mold to the jigger operator. A

The frame-work of the device comprises the corner uprights 1 connectedat their upper extremities by the horizontal members 8 for the purposeof bracing the structure. 20

End walls 10, a top wall 11 and side-walls 12, of metal sheeting, tongueand groove boards or the like are attached to the framework thus formed,to enclose the drying rack, the side walls being cut away between tlieuprights and 6 to the heightof the horizontal members 7. Similar walls13 and 14 are provided across the uprights 5 and 6 respectively,saidwalls being provided with openings 15 and 16 respectively by means"of which access may be hadto the heating chamber thus formed. A wall 17is also provided extending between the horizontal members 7. v or V I 7An open ended compartment is thus formed through one end portion of thedevice between the uprights 5 and 6 and be neath the horizontal members7 said compartment being out ofl? from the heating chamber; access beinghad to the heating chamber from said compartment 7 only through theopenings 15 and 16. A bench or table 18 is located in the compartmentthus formed and the jigger 19 is mounted upon said tablein such positionthat theoperator thereof may remove the molds containing the green warefrom said jigger and pass them through the opening 15, placing them uponthe shelves of the endless conveyor which will later be described.

An opening 10 is formedin the end wall "10, adjacent to the compartmentabove clescribed, for the purpose, of allowing the finisher to haveaccess to the endless conveyor. The finisher occupies a positionadjacent to the finishing table 18 ,which enables him to removethemolds, containing the dried ware, which have passed through theheating chamber, from the endless conveyor, through the opening 10, andafter removing the dried ware from said molds, the molds are replacedupon the shelves of the endless conveyor from which they were removed.

The dried ware which is thus removed by a the finisher is finished inthe usual manner and placed upon a board or shelf 18 located upon thefinished table. As each of these boards or shelves is filled with wareit is placed upon the rack 18. 7 The batterout occupies a positionadjacent to the batter 19, which enables him to 7 remove the empty moldsfrom the conveyor through the opening 16 and after batting out a lump ofclay, each mold is returned to the jigger operator who forms a new piecebeneath the bearings21, and a pair of bear-.

ings 23 are located within said pit at points spaced from'the bearings22. Spaced pairs of bearings 24 are located at intervals along thelength of the horizontal members 4 and similarly spaced pairs ofbearings 25 are locarted at intervals upon the horizontal members 8being staggered with relation to the bearings 24.

Shafts 26 and 27are ournaled inthe bearings and 21 respectively, similarshafts 28 and 29 being journaled in the bearings 22 and 23 respectively.The bearings 24 and also have shafts 30 and 31 respectively journaledtherein, sprocket wheels 32 being mounted at each extremity of each ofsaid shafts. A pair of endless sprocket chains 33 pass over and engagesaid sprockets as shown in Fig. l and at spaced intervals along theentire length of each of the chains 33 are links provided with bearings34. Swinging shelf hangers are pivotally connected by means of bolts 36passing through the bear: ings 34, and support the shelves 37 all ofsaid construction beinoclearly illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings. V7

One of the shafts30isprovided upon one extremityrwith a gear 38 whichmeshes with a pinion 39 mounted upon the shaft 40, said shaft beingjournaled in a suitable bearing 41 mounted on the adjacent horizontalmember 4. A gear 42 is also fixed upon the shaft and meshes with thepinion 43 loosely mounted upon the shaft 44, said shaft beingjournaled'through a suitable bearing 45 can I ried upon the adjacentmember 4. A clutch 46 is mounted. upon the shaft 44 and arranged to beoperated through the lever 47, flexible member 48 and pedal 49 to causethe pinion 43 to rotate with the shaft 44.

l A'pulley 50 is fixed upon the shaft 44 and connected by means of abelt 51 with a smaller pulley 52 mounted upon the shaft 53, which shaftis journaled in suitable shaft hangers 54 supported upon the under sidesof the members 4t. A larger pulley 55 is fixed upon the shaft 53 and isconnected by means of a belt 56 with the pulley 57 mounted upon theshaft of the motor 58, said motor being preferably mounted upon a shelf59 supported from the adjacent member 4. A pulley 60 may be providedupon the shaft 53 and connected by means of a belt 61 with a pulley 62through which the jigger 19 may be operated.

The operation of the device is as follows: The jigger operator and thebatter-out are located as above described in their respective positionsadjacent to the bench 18 the jigger operator being of course located atthe left in position to operate the jigger while the batter-out islocated at the right in suitable position to remove molds from theendless conveyor through the opening 16. The bot tor-out places a bat ofclay in each mold before handing the same to the jigger operafor whoforms ware upon each mold and places the molds upon the shelving exposedthrough the opening 15. As the shelving exposed through the opening 15is filled with molds carrying green ware the igger operator depressesthe pedal 49 fora suflicient length of time to move the conveyorforwardly through the heating chamber in the direction of the arrowsshown in Fig. 1, a su'liicient distance to bring a new portion of emptyshelving into position adjacent to the opening 15. It will of course beunderstood that the depression of the pedal 49 throws in the clutch d6coupling the pinion l?) to the shaft 4a and through the chain of gearingabove described rotating the shaft 30 upon which the gear 38 is mounted.which in turn causes the sprocket chains to move over the sprockets asabove described.

The finisher removes the molds containing the dried ware from theshelves exposed through the opening l0 taking the dried were from themolds and replacing the molds upon the shelves. The batter-out thenremoves the empty molds from the shelves of the conveyor through theopening 16 and places a bat in eachmold after which he hands the mold tothe jigger operator to be again used in forming new ware, the 'jiggeroperator forming a piece of new ware in each mold and placing the moldupon the shelves of the conveyor, through the opening 1!. It will ofcourse be evident that as the endless conveyor is moved forwardlythrough the device by the jigger operator in order to bring emptyshelves into position where he can fill. them through the opening 15,that the shelves containing the dried ware which have passed entirelythrough the device will be successively exposed through the openings 10and 16. From the foregoing description and accompanying drawings it willbe evident that a drying rack is provided in which the molds carryingthe green ware are slowly moved through a heat mg chamber and aroundheating elements such as the coils of steam pipe 64, the molds afterpassin entirely through the heating chamber being brought back to adelivery point adjacent to the filling point in order that the jiggeroperator, batter-out and finisher may conveniently handle the entireoperation of the device, only one set of molds being necessary, the samemolds being continuously used in the operation of the device.

In the slightly modified form of the device illustrated in Fig. 5, apair of adjustable bearings 22 are located upon the uprights 6 near thelower ends thereof and directly beneath the bearings 21, and a pair ofbearings 23 are located upon the horizontal members at at pointsadjacent to the upper extremities of the uprights 6, said bearingshaving shafts 28 and 29 respectively journaled therein. The remainingportions of the device are constructed similar to the device illustratedin Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, the di rection of the conveyer chain,however, as it passes the finisher and jigger operator being the reverseof that shown in Fig. l.

I claim:

1.. In a drying rack and conveyor of the character describecha dryingchamber and a conveyor mounted within said drylng chamber and arrangedto be moved in a circuitous course therein, said drying chamber havingadjacent openings for filling and emptying the conveyor.

2. In a drying rack and conveyor of the character described, a dryingchamber, a compartment formed near one end of said drying chamber andprovided with openings on opposite sides into the drying chamher and aconveyor movable through a circuitous course within said drying chamberand around said compartment.

3. In a drying rack and conveyor of the character described a dryingchamber, a compartment formed near one end of the drying chamber andprovided with openings on opposite sides into'the drying chamber, theadjacent end of the drying chamber being provided with an opening and aconveyor movable through a circuitous course within the drying chamberand around the compartment, said conveyor moving adjacent to all of saidopenings.

In testimony that I claim the above, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

CHARLES L. SEBRING.

